The Perth IO took place over the weekend 14-15 June and was attended by players from Scotland, England and Malaysia.
It was a tough day for Colin Day who, suffering from neck and back pain, found himself in a group along with Greg Dand and Gareth Christie. Needless to say, Day lost heavily to both. Tom Burns and John Halpin were drawn in the same group along with Steve Bennett, Rob Conway and Martin Campbell. Burns lost 2-0 to Bennett but won his other three games to qualify in second place. Despite good performances, Halpin failed to win and did not progress. Tom Burns then played in the barrage and had a resounding 4-0 victory over Scott Fleming. In the other barrage game Gareth Christie squeezed through by a 3-2 margin against London’s Colin Tarry. Both semi-finals were closely fought, Burns losing 1-0 to Dand and Christie defeating Bennett 2-1. In the final Christie opened the scoring only to be pegged back by Dand but it was Christie who secured the title with a late goal.
The team event on the following day was a very low key affair and GTSA Â finished third behind Tayside A and B teams.
The organisers were delighted that the event was attended by former subbuteo giant Mike Dent who now lives in Malaysia. Dent, originally from Blairgowrie, represented England at the 1976 Europa Cup in Malta. He went on to win that trophy beating Englishman Norman Gleave in the final. Our own Dave Houston represented Scotland at that tournament.
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